April is done and so am I with letting pre-season preconceptions factor into the Player Power Rankings. No longer shackled by that abritrary rule that I made up myself, I may now mete out justice to those who have disappointed us thus far….

RANK

PLAYER

CHANGE

COMMENTS

1

+2
Last Week: 3

Mark Trumbo - Is there any question that he is the Angels' best player right now?

2

-1
Last Week: 1

Mike Trout – He finally looks like he is on the verge of breaking out again, although I feel like I've said that a few times already this season.

3

-1
Last Week: 2

Albert Pujols – At some point the Angels need to do something about his aching feet. A nice start would be abandoning the foolish idea of letting him play the field.

Peter Bourjos - Just when he seemed like he was going to establish himself as the leadoff hitter, he fell victim to the exploding hamstring epidemic in that 19-inning game.

6

+4
Last Week: 10

Jason Vargas - At least someone is finally doing something to make one of Dipoto's off-season acquisitions look smart.

7

– 0
Last Week: n/a

Alberto Callaspo - It is good to have Callaspo back but it is less good to have him back and batting fifth.

8

– 0
Last Week: n/a

Erick Aybar – I was just thinking that a low-OBP leadoff hitter is exactly what this sputtering lineup needs!

9

+2
Last Week: 11

C.J. Wilson - As further evidence that pitcher wins are a useless statistic, I present the court with C.J. Wilson's 3-0 record. I rest my case, your honor.

10

+4
Last Week: 14

Tommy Hanson - You have to give him some respect for the way he came back from the death of his stepbrother to pitch so well against the A's.

11

-4
Last Week: 7

Ernesto Frieri – The Angels need to make a trade for "this year's Ernesto Frieri" because the old Ernesto Frieri kind of sucks right now.

12

-3
Last Week: 9

Chris Iannetta - After sitting out three games to rest thanks to catching a 19-inning game, Iannetta may have inadvertently opened the door to Hank Conger stealing playing time from him.

13

-5
Last Week: 8

Scott Downs - Stop me if you heard this one before, but Scott Downs hurt himself trying to field a comebacker. Methinks Jose Mota needs to start bringing someone along to yoga class.

14

-9
Last Week: 5

Garrett Richards – Well, the questionable decision to return him to a relief role backfired on Scioscia pretty quickly, didn't it?

15

+10
Last Week: 25

Michael Kohn - Kohn has been trying to break into the Halo bullpen for a few seasons now and I think he finally found his role, he's a 17th inning guy.

16

+5
Last Week: 21

Joe Blanton - The streak of giving up a hit in each inning is over! And now, suddenly, Joe Blanton has morphed into a hard luck loser rather than just a general loser.

17

-2
Last Week: 15

Jerome Williams – Oh, right, that's why he wasn't part of the Opening Day rotation. Another master stroke from Scioscia.

18

-5
Last Week: 13

Dane De La Rosa – DDLR might be the new Rich Thompson/Jason Bulger/Kevin Gregg. In low leverage situations, he is lights out. With the game on the line, he is a virtual lock for a meltdown.

19

– 0
Last Week: 19

Hank Conger - As we saw with running "effort" after that bunt, Conger's real role on this team is to provide comic relief.

20

+2
Last Week: 22

J.B. Shuck- He has been more effective than expected, but that doesn't make it OK that the Halos don't have a better option or even a right-handed platoon for Shuck while Bourjos is out.

21

-5
Last Week: 16

Josh Hamilton – Hamilton is now in the five-hole full-time. If he keeps hitting like this, let's hope Scioscia doesn't wait another month to drop him further down the order.

22

-5
Last Week: 17

Luis Jimenez – He fell off a cliff in the last two weeks, but it is good to see he still did enough to earn a bench spot.

23

-3
Last Week: 20

Brendan Harris - In his time filling in for Aybar and Callaspo, Harris registered a -0.3 WAR. Yep, don't ever worry about spending money on the bench, Jerry.

24

– 0
Last Week: n/a

Barry Enright - If only Enright could have survived one more inning in that marathon game, we would've been treated to a position player pitching for the A's and likely an uplifting win. Instead, we haz all the sads.

25

– 0
Last Week: n/a

Ryan Brasier - The fact that he even made the active roster tells you all you need to know about the performance and health problems the Angels have had to deal with.

Dropped from rankings: Michael Roth (clearly called up too soon), Andrew Romine (rendered obsolete), Sean Burnett (hurt because of course), Nick Maronde (not as MLB ready as we first thought)

About Garrett Wilson

Garrett Wilson is the Supreme Overlord of Monkeywithahalo.com and editor at The Outside Corner. He's an Ivy League graduate, but not from one of the impressive ones. You shouldn't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he is angry.

It is the last week before we reach the quarter pole of the season and the last week in which I am going to allow my pre-season perceptions to factor into the ratings. In other words, if you like seeing Albert Pujols not ranked in the 20s, then you might want to relish this week.

As always, the rankings are based on a player’s overall season performance with a weight on recent performance.

RANK

PLAYER

CHANGE

COMMENTS

1

+1Last Week: 2

C.J. Wilson – I doubt he’ll get it, but he deserves the respect of the Ranger fans for stepping up and taking the bump again the morning after a rain delay cut short his previous start. He had to get up emotionally to face an incredibly hostile crowd twice and he pitched his ass off to help the Angels win.

2

-1Last Week: 1

Jered Weaver – So this is what happens when Weaver doesn’t face the Twins every outing. Yuck.

3

+1Last Week: 4

Mark Trumbo – Mark Trumbo is officially a grown ass man now.

4

+5Last Week: 9

Mike Trout – Have you accepted Mike Trout as your personal lord and savior? I know I have.

5

+2Last Week: 7

Howie Kendrick – He’s been hitting like his old self lately, but never in an important situation it seems. Of course, I don’t see how I can bust on him for that when the same thing can be said about everyone on this team.

6

-3Last Week: 3

Torii Hunter – He had one hit all week, a home run. At least he made it count.

7

+1Last Week: 8

Scott Downs – For the second time this season, Downs looks like he is seriously hurt but manages to shake it off and comeback looking better than ever just a few days later. And people say the Angels have had no luck.

8

-2Last Week: 6

Albert Pujols – I honestly don’t think I can be rational about Boojols anymore. Let’s just move on.

9

-4Last Week: 5

Dan Haren – Let’s just hope these back spasms are a brief bump in the road.

10

+3Last Week: 13

Ernesto Frieri – Some say he is the closer of the future. I say the future started when he got demigod Josh Hamilton looking on Saturday.

11

-1Last Week: 10

Kendrys Morales – A sore Achilles is no surprise, nagging injuries like this were bound to happen with Morales and all the more reason the Angels are smart to limit his playing time… well, that and he can’t hit lefties.

12

+2Last Week: 14

Ervin Santana – I don’t know what he did that caused the Angels’ bats to not score a single run for him in five straight starts, but now that he was gotten back on their good side, I highly recommend he not repeat whatever the original transgression was.

Jerome Williams – I refuse to penalize Jerome for his pseudo-spot start on Friday. That was an untenable situation for most any pitcher and, if anything, he should be rewarded for taking one for the team.

15

+6Last Week: 21

Jordan Walden – A 1-2-3 inning with a two-run lead against Texas is another step forward in the resurrection of Walden. It might take awhile, but he’ll get there.

16

+6Last Week: 22

Alberto Callaspo – Just when the roster logjam was starting to resolve itself, Callaspo has caught fire in May (.986 OPS) and turned third base back into a daily guessing game on who will get the start.

17

+2Last Week: 19

Peter Bourjos – The more I think about it, the more I realize that the Free Peter Bourjos campaign should really be the Free Guy Who Isn’t Vernon Wells campaign.

18

– 0Last Week: 18

Vernon Wells – Remember how everyone said there is no way he can be as bad as last year? WRONG! Wells is posting worse numbers in almost every single offensive category compared to his final numbers for the abortion that was his 2011 season. If there is any justice in this world, he’ll be benched if not released by the end of the week.

19

-2Last Week: 17

Erick Aybar – I’ve been too obsessed with figuring out what’s wrong with Pujols to even begin trying to figure out why Aybar has been so wretched this season.

20

+3Last Week: 23

Bobby Wilson – For the next two months, this guy is the starting catcher… yep. Hey, umm, does anyone have Bengie Molina’s phone number? I want to talk to him about something. Actually, that’s not fair, Wilson isn’t that horrible, but the last thing the Halos need is another offensive liability in the lineup.

21

-1Last Week: 20

David Carpenter – I like Carpenter quite a bit, but I’m still not ready to see him pitching in high leverage situations.

22

+2Last Week: 24

Jason Isringhausen – If not for this weekly feature, I don’t think I’d even remember that he is still on the team.

23

+2Last Week: 25

Hisanori Takahashi – How bad does it have to get when Taka can’t even get into a game as a mop-up man anymore?

24

– 0Last Week: n/a

John Hester – I have no idea if he is any good, but my wife assures me he is very handsome, so he has that going for him.

25

– 0Last Week: n/a

David Pauley – Mop, mop, mop, all day long. Mop, mop, mop while I sing this song.

About Garrett Wilson

Garrett Wilson is the Supreme Overlord of Monkeywithahalo.com and editor at The Outside Corner. He's an Ivy League graduate, but not from one of the impressive ones. You shouldn't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he is angry.